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Alameda 

Alameda Co., California 

Sitxiated on tKe E-astern 

SKore of tKe Bay of 

San Francisco 

JK, City of Homes 



Being a brief description of tHe beavities 

of Alameda, and its svirrovind- 

in^s on land and -water 



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Press of the Alameda Daily Encina 




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Alayieda. *Cal. 






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IN REDWOOD CANYON 



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Historical 



Bv HARRY R. TAYLOR 



ORIGINALLY one man owned the entire site of the present 
city of Alameda, forming a part of the Rancho de San 
Antonio, which was granted to Luis Peralta for services 
to his country in 1820 by Pablo Vicente de Sola, Governor of Cali- 
fornia, who derived authority to make such grants from the King 
of Spain. In 1844 the same grant was confirmed by Micheltorena, 
the Spanish Governor of Upper California. Later, when California 
was admitted to the Union, the United States Government con- 
firmed these grants. 

The entire population of the village in early times was central- 
ized, but the advent of the railroad later spread the residences 
over the peninsula, the whole of which was one beautiful park of 
natural oaks. It would require a volume to set forth adequately 
the story of the ambitions and struggles of the pioneers, whose 
public-spirited endeavors made possible the charming city by the 
bay shore, which we of the present generation enjoy. 

In 1854, with but 100 inhabitants, the town was incorporated 
by act of legislature and its boundaries fixed. 

The second incorporation of the town took place on March 7, 
1872; in 1876 was established the first water plant. Churches, 
schools, hotels and stores had been started, and from a popular 
resort for picnics, the wooded Encinal, carpeted with wild flowers, 
came to be looked upon as a most desirable place of residence. 
In '73 much attention began to be directed to improving streets and 
sidewalks, and the foundations were laid for the present best 
sewered and paved city on the Coast. Wooden sidewalks were 
later entirely replaced by artificial stone walks. 

By amicable agreement with the railroad companies, no charge 
was ever made for fares between the numerous stations within the 



city limits. This very desirable concession still continues and 
gives Alameda a feature which is perhaps unique on the continent. 

To speak of the perfection of the city's model fire depart- 
ment, of its splendid school system, the building of its fine City 
Hall and Carnegie Library, require separate chapters. Suffice to 
say, the public spirit of its citizens has ever been in the potent 
watchword, "Forward and Upward !" 

Looking back over its history, we see that Alameda has made 
a wonderful progress. From a cattle ranch it has become a city of 
handsome residences, a beautiful home city with no disturbing 
elements. Its progress has been healthy and permanent. Its 
settlement and prosperity have been mainly due to its fine environ- 
ment and unequaled natural advantages. Its future is safe, and it 
is dawning with a promise of still greater blessings. 




Climate of the City of Alameda 



By EDWARD W. MASLIN 



CLIMATE has been defined as "the characteristic conditions 
of a country in respect to amount and variation of heat and 
cold, moisture and dryness, wind and calm," etc. For 
the purpose of this article, the consideration of the climate of the 
city of Alameda will be confined to question of how far the climate 
of the city affects the comfort, health.and the intellectual develop- 
ment of its inhabitants. 

Every citizen of California thoroughly understands the topog- 
raphy of the State and the causes which create its many various 
and beneficent climates. We have the climates of the upper and 
lower Sierra ; the two main valleys — Sacramento and San Joaquin, 
the north and south Coast Ranges — the sea slope thereof and the 
eastern slope. Each of these differs materially from the others. It 
is in the equability of temperature and the certainty of winter and 
spring moisture to mature crops that the section of country sur- 
rounding the Bay of San Francisco is superior to other sections of 
the State. But there are differences in the general climates of the 
bay counties, and so it may successfully be contended that the 
climate of the city of Alameda is the most equable. 

For the foreign reader this condition needs precise explanation. 
In this State, climate is dependent upon altitude and not upon 
latitude, and also upon the influence of the ocean or trade winds. 
In the East we naturally expect that the north is cold and the south 
is warm and somewhat tropical, but in California, the summer 
temperatures of Redding, in the north, and Bakersfield, in the 
south, 300 miles apart, are almost identical. The State is bounded 
on the east by the high Sierra Range, which protects us from hot 
and desiccating winds. On the sea line is ihe Coast Range of 
mountains, rising from 1,000 to 4,000 feet high, extending from the 



north to the south line of the State, which shields the interior from 
the fogs and ocean winds. In the Coast Range is a break called the 
" Golden Gate," through which enter the tide and trade winds, and 
flow to the sea the waters of the Sacramento and San Joaquin 
Valleys, the first coming from the north and the latter from 
the south. 

The chief modifier of our climate is the Japan current, which 
is deflected northerly and easterly when it meets the east coast of 
Asia. A portion of this warm current washes the east shore of 
China and Japan, and a portion flows south of the Aleutian 
Islands. It advances until it strikes the northwest shore of North 
America, then turns southerly and flows along the west shore and 
past California. 

The temperature of the ocean at Fort Point, on the Golden 
Gate, averages 56°, while the temperature of the air is about 54°. 
The trade winds coming from the Arctic zone pass over this warm 
current and reach our shores— the most healthful, bracing wind 
that ever inspired physical vigor. 

Hence will be perceived, at once, the causes which conspire 
to produce the mild, invigorating and equable itemperature of the 
country adjacent to the Bay of San Francisco. In this climate there 
is neither fervid scorching heat, nor chilling, depressing cold. Labor 
pursues its toil with interesting vigor, and here the human mind 
finds the highest expression of its power. No country in the world 
possesses the equal physical conformation of the earth to produce 
such a superb climate as comes within the influence of the ocean 
winds which pour in unstinted through the Golden Gate. 

These winds sometimes blow strong, and in winter are occa- 
sionally cool, but Alameda is so situated as to be sheltered from 
the unpleasant features, if there are any, of the winter winds. The 
ocean winds, modified and warmed by the Japan current, after they 
reach the bay, are deflected, mostly to the north, up the Sacra- 
mento Valley, and reach with a lessened force a distance of about 
one hundred miles. Where the influence of the trade winds is not 
felt, we have an almost tropical climate, which permits oranges to 
be grown as far north as Oroville, and possibly further, and on the 



east slope of the Coast Range. Casually looking at the map, one 
would suppose that Alameda lies in the direct course of the trade 
winds, but this is only apparently so. As we said before, the tend- 
ency, in fact the constant course, of the trade winds is to the north- 
ward after passing through the Golden Gate. Alameda lies about 
six miles south of the direct trend of the wind, and gets generally 
but the fringe of the current. She has also the protecting shelter 
of the Coast Range of mountains, ranging south of San Francisco, 
which gives her the gentle warmth of the east slope of the range. 
Her climate is probably 10° warmer than that of San Francisco, 
either in winter or summer. 

Often when the fog-horn outside the Golden Gate is moaning 
its warning tone, Alameda is bathed in generous sunshine. 

General Chipman writes in an article on the " Economic Value 
of Climate" as follows: "There is nothing so misleading as tables 
of mean temperatures. For example, the mean annual tempera- 
ture of San Francisco, where there is seldom a frost or rarely a hot 
day, is only about 5° higher than the mean temperature of New 
York City, where the people perish in the street both by extreme 
heat and cold. It is obvious that to ascertain the climate of a 
country we must study the extreme degrees of heat and cold." For 
instance, in 1891, the mean temperature of Redding, not less than 
150 miles north of Alameda and Oakland, was 64°; Tulare, 100 
miles south of Oakland and Alameda, the mean was 63°; the mean 
temperature of Oakland was 57°, yet at Redding in the same year, 
on August 3d, the highest temperature for the year was 107° and 
the lowest, on January 1st, was 26°. At Tulare, on June 29th and 
other days, the highest was 112°, and on December 14th the lowest 
was 18°. At Oakland the highest reading of the thermometer was 
90° on October llth, and the lowest on January 1st was 30°. Ala- 
meda, being more sheltered and further south by three miles than 
Oakland, would show a few degrees higher reading, both winter 
and summer, than Oakland, and a few degrees higher mean. 

The equability and salubrity of the.climate of Alameda may be 
appreciated by comparing the range of the temperature in January, 
1902, with other sections. At Redding the highest temperature 



was 68° and the lowest 28°, the greatest daily range being 37°. At 
Tulare the highest was 78° and the lowest 20°, the greatest daily 
range being 40°. In Oakland the highest was 58°, the lowest 32° 
and the greatest daily range only 20°. It may be well to state here 
that there is no weather station at Alameda, hence it was necessary 
to take Oakland, where there is a station, as the unit of compari- 
son, observing, however, as stated before, that experience shows 
that Alameda is a few degrees warmer than Oakland. 
"And 'tis my faith, that every flower 
Enjoys the air it breathes." 
So wrote Wordsworth. 

No better proof of the salubrity and sweetness of the air of 
Alameda can be educed than the floral wealth of her lawns and 
gardens. From winter to winter flowers bloom and exhale their 
perfume. No frost touches and chills them, neither do they shrink 
from summer's heat. They live and breathe in constant ecstacy 
in the air that feeds and kisses them into exuberant growth. 

How much such a climate must add to the comfort of those 
who have the capacity to enjoy it, the imagination may suggest to 
those who have not lived here. Labor can be performed here 
without the enervation of both body and mind which follows toil, 
both physical and mental, in warmer climes. This climate invites 
and encourages outdoor sports and exercise. The rosy hue of 
health in the cheeks of the young boys and girls attests, as it does 
in England , the invigorating influences of the sea breezes. Nowhere 
are found more perfect types of physical vigor than those of the 
youth of this city. 

It is almost needless to argue upon the effect of such a climate 
upon the intellectual development of the present young and future 
generation. In warm countries mystics and prophets are born, but 
only in temperate climates does the human mind grasp the deep 
problem of life, exercise its reasoning faculties and add to the 
same knowledge and power. 

In faith I see the coming men and women nourished in this 
wonderful and exciting atmosphere bring fame and honor to this 
beautiful city. 



Educational Advantages of Alameda 

By CHARLES E. SCHWARTZ 



ALAMEDA enjoys educational advantages of the broadest 
and best. Its public schools are of three grades — a primary 
course of five years, a grammar course of three years, and 
a high school course of four years. 

The primary and grammar schools are most excellent ; and 
aside from thorough training in all the English branches, offer 
special instruction in sewing, cooking, drawing, manual training, 
music, and nature study. Manual training is provided for the boys 
in the grammar grades. There are four wood-working shops, one 
in each of the large grammar school buildings. The equipment in 
each of these shops is of the very best, that of each building having 
cost five hundred dollars. 

The grammar grades have the departmental plan of instruc- 
tion. This gives to pupils teachers of special ability in each subject. 
The most of the pupils' attention is given to essentials. Study 
periods are provided for in the day's program at school. No home 
study is required of pupils in the primary and grammar grades. 
This enables teachers to supervise the study of the pupils and to 
aid them in the formation of proper habits of study. 

Classes are kept to a reasonable size. The average number 
belonging to a class in the grammar and primary grades is thirty- 
eight. This gives almost ideal conditions for the pupil to receive 
the personal attention of the teacher. 

It is the policy in Alameda to make the department compact 
by having a few large buildings. There are in use at present six 
buildings. Free transportation within the limits of the city on two 
railroads makes it possible for pupils to come from quite a distance 
to school easily, promptly, and with no expense. 



Alameda has a very large school attendance in proportion to 
population, which shows not only that her population is one which 
takes advantage of school opportunities, but also that the schools 
are so conducted as to hold the interest of the pupils. The number 
of pupils attending during the past year was 3,550. The population 
of Alameda is 17,500. School is in session ten months during the year. 

There are eighty-four classrooms at present in use in the Ala- 
meda department ; and twenty more rooms will be made available 
when the high school moves into the new high school building 
within a few months. 

There are ninety teachers in the school department of Alameda. 
Teachers are selected on merit alone. All applicants for positions 
are given a fair hearing. The salaries paid are as high as any in 
the State. As a consequence Alameda has one of the most wide- 
awake and efficient bodies of teachers to be met with anywhere in 
the United States. 

One of the attractive features of the schools of Alameda is the 
school gardens, which are well kept at all seasons of the year. 
Alameda is one of the few places of the country giving special 
attention to this method of beautifying school surroundings. 

The citizens of Alameda recently voted bonds for |100,000, 
165,000 of which is to be used in the construction of a new high 
school building. This building will be erected on a spacious lot 
near the center of the city. It will be built of brick ; and the plans 
are so drawn as to admit of extensions at a future time without 
interfering with all the proper arrangements for light, heat and 
exits. The new high school building now being constructed will 
have accommodations for five hundred pupils. The present high 
school attendance is three hundred and fifty. 

The high school course of four years is elective throughout. 
A business course is offered in addition to the other high school 
work. The high school is accredited at the University of California 
and at Stanford University. 

There is an evening school at which the common English 
branches are taught and at which courses are given in bookkeep- 
ing, shorthand and Spanish. 



In addition to the educational advantages which Alameda has 
in the schools and libraries within her own limits, it is less than an 
hour's ride (fare, five cents) by street-car to the State University of 
California, situated at Berkeley. It is also less than an hour's ride 
to San Francisco (fare, ten cents), where the public institutions of 
that city, such as libraries, art and science museums, public parks, 
and the best grade of lectures and entertainments, are within easy 
reach of all the residents of Alameda. 



Boating on San Antonio Estuary 



By WM. B. HINCHMAN 



BOATING, which is followed as a relaxation, amusement and 
athletic exercise, is always certain to be one of the attractive 
features of a city when navigable water is contiguous to the 
center of population. 

On the north side of Alameda is a land-locked estuary called 
the " San Antonio." It is connected at the westerly end with San 
Francisco by Oakland Creek, a deep-water stream, and on the 
eastern end with San Leandro Bay by a tidal canal. 

For boating the estuary is unexcelled. The water ranges in 
depth from five to twenty feet. There is no undertow, no boister- 
ous surf and no heavy winds. Its perfect sanitation, its smoothness 
and its facilities give the very best conditions for the pleasures and 
advantages of boating. The people indulge in the practice the 
whole twelve months of the year. 

At the north end of Chestnut Street, on the estuary, within 
easy walking distance from the center of the city, is the clubhouse 
of the Alameda Boating Club. It was organized on January 2, 
1890. It has a membership of 100. The club owns its house and 
has a number of racing and pleasure boats. 

Its members have been highly successful in competition, and 
have won more prizes during the past three years than any other 
boating club in California. 



The Health Department of Alameda 

By L. W. STIDHAM, M. D. 



MAN does not, except from the force of necessity, dwell in 
unpleasant places — when he chooses a place for a home, 
that spot is selected which gives the greatest convenience, 
health, comfort and happiness — such inducements as these have 
builded Alameda across the Bay from San Francisco. It is a 
city of homes, and the municipal government has realized this fact 
aesthetically, in shade trees, paved sidewalks and macadamized 
streets, and strictly healthful in a perfect sewer system, strict yard 
and garbage sanitation. This department of the Board is under 
the jurisdiction of a master plumber and health inspector. Unsan- 
itary yards, unclean streets and cesspools of all descriptions are 
strictly prohibited. We have a pure water supply, and above all 
a good food supply. 

The milk and food inspection is in charge of a competent 
(graduate) professor, who makes a monthly test of the milk from 
each dairy (taken from the wagons on the street unannounced). 
The dairies are all inspected at least once a month, and the sani- 
tary conditions, feedstufTs, condition of the cows, water supply, 
percentages of butter fat and cream in the milk, are published on a 
blackboard in the Board rooms, and also in the daily papers. The 
food inspection comprises a monthly inspection of all butcher- 
shops, bakeries, groceries, produce stores and restaurants, and all 
materials used in the manufacture of foodstuffs as well. All pre- 
pared articles sold for food are examined chemically and micro- 
scopically ; the State as well as local pure food laws are rigidly 
enforced. The result is that our mortality rate in children (milk 
being their chief food supply) is the lowest of any published statis- 
tics in the world. Our mortality rate (annual death rate per thou- 
sand for the last fiscal year, 10.7), for all ages, is much lower than 



the other cities of this State and of Eastern States. We have no 
tenement district with unsanitary living, no large factories with 
obnoxious waste, odors or smoke. 

Added to these municipal and industrial conditions, there are 
many natural advantages. The city's elevation above sea-level is 
twenty-nine feet ; it has a sandy loam, quickly absorbing the rain- 
fall, gradually sloping from the center of the city to the bay shore 
on either side, allowing natural drainage and sewers partly flushed 
by sea water. We have a mild, pure atmosphere and an equable 
cHmate, allowing outdoor life from January to December. There 
is no malaria, and few contagious diseases. 

The city's Board of Health is composed of professional men, 
who stand high among eminent physicians, and are men of authority 
on sanitary laws and legislation. A Board of Health is oftentimes 
censured by the public as meddlesome and interfering with per- 
sonal rights and business interests ; but this important body has 
the householder at heart, and protects the home and property value 
against unscrupulous people, by abating nuisances and things un- 
pleasant and unsanitary, on the broadest principles of humanity. 



Public Library of Alameda 

By F. B. graves 



ONE of the potent factors in the development of a city is its 
free library. It is an essential part of a broad system of 
education ; it supplements and assists in the work of the 
schools. It furnishes an incentive and an opportunity for wider 
study to the pupils ; it gives to men and women excursions in fresh 
and delightful fields ; it gives to history clubs and others material 
for better work ; and gives to all classes wholesome reading for 
leisure hours. 

The Free Public Library of the city of Alameda ranks fourth in 
the list of free libraries of California as to number of volumes 
issued, and sixth as to maintenance and number of volumes in the 
library. 

It was started in the year 1877 by a few ladies and gentlemen, 
who organized the "Alameda Free Reading-room and Library 
Association." Gifts of money and books were generously con- 
tributed, and the association, with several hundred volumes, the 
leading California newspapers and principal American monthly 
magazines, opened its rooms on August 25, 1877. 

From that time the growth of the Library has progressed 
steadily. On January 1, 1897, the Library was opened in its present 
quarters in the west wing of the new City Hall. Here will be 
found conveniently arranged rooms, where members may have 
easy access to all the books. The reference department, on the 
same floor, has a good collection of bound periodicals and stand- 
ard reference works. The children have an alcove to themselves, 
where they may read and consult the books provided for them. 

The Library has 26,400 volumes, and a membership of 6,243, 
more than one-third of the population having cards. For the year 
ending May 31, 1902, there were issued for home use 123,547 



volumes. A monthly bulletin is issued by the Library containing 
lists of recent accessions, a serial catalogue, and items of informa- 
tion and interest to its readers. This is distributed free. 

A branch reading-room is maintained at the west end, where 
in addition to the daily and weekly papers and monthly magazines, 
a collection of reference works and bound periodicals may be 
found. 

Mr. Andrew Carnegie, who has done more than any other 
man toward the erection of library buildings, has given to this 
city |35,000, with which to erect a building suitable for its needs. 
The lot on which the building is now being constructed was bought 
by the Library trustees in 1887. The new building is to be of sand- 
stone and pressed brick ; it will have a frontage of 70.6 feet and a 
depth of 65.6 feet. An easy rise of wide granite and marble steps 
leads up to the vestibule of mosaic and marble, making an artistic 
entrance to the main room. No partitions will obstruct the view 
in this room, the several departments being divided by wire parti- 
tions. Special attention has been paid to the heating, ventilating 
and lighting. 

The capacity of the building will approach 70,000 volumes. 
It is the intention to have the building ready for occupancy by the 
end of the present year. 



The City We Love 



By ED. K. TAYLOR 



THE climate of Alameda permits of outdoor enjoyment during 
all seasons. 
When the rain interferes with some kinds of recreation 
the sportsman enjoys better duck shooting on the adjacent marshes, 
and better fishing under the wharves — possibly because the fish 
seek shelter from the rain. 

Our city has a frontage of six miles along the land-locked estu- 
ary and harbor, and for five miles the weary waves of the open 
bay rest upon our white sand beach. Where can better opportu- 
nity be afforded for swimming, fishing, boating, with oar or sail, or 
playing with the happy children in the sand ? Where can children 
become more robust or have keener enjoyment than here ? They 
have their rose gardens, their sand pies and sunshine. They can 
safely drive their pony and goat carts on ouruncrowded streets. I 
know of one little maiden of ten summers — we have no winters 
here— who takes her trick at the'wheel of a twenty-ton yacht and 
enjoys her regular plunge in the surf. Here children are allowed 
to be children. Here also you will find active sportsmen of from 
sixty to eighty years young. 

It is largely on account of our opportunities for invigorating 
sport and these bracing sea breezes that — and let it be proclaimed 
abroad — a city of seventeen thousand population harbors not one 
loafing rowdy. Alameda is the only city in the world that has no 
resident criminal element. Our youth'grow up uncontaminated by 
evil associations or influences. 

We have baseball and cricket grounds, tennis courts and 
champion players, a rifle range for target practice at the east end, 
and trap and pigeon shooting at the west. Our facilities for sea 
bathing are unsurpassed. 



We have a public park and children's playground, and your 
child can associate with every other child in town without physical 
or moral injury. We have the best paved streets for wheeling, 
riding or driving in carriage or automobile, also gymnasiums, bowl- 
ing alleys and every aid and opportunity for recreative sports ; and 
if you want the greatest fun of all, join the Tong of white high- 
binders, for Alameda is the Imperial City, the central home of the 
Imperial Tong— the unique fraternal order of the earth, whose 
members are robed in the most fantastic designs of the richest silks 
and stuffs of the Orient. 

Like everything else in Alameda the order of The Tongs is 
flourishing and extending and spreading through all the land. 

The home-coming merchant or weary toiler from the metrop- 
olis leaves his cares over the water, and, after resting on the ferry, 
he is in better condition for the enjoyment of sports than he who 
hangs on the strap of a crowded street car journeying to his flat in 
the metropolitan resident district. Hence, here we not only have 
opportunity, but congenial company in all sports. 

Chief of all modes of recreation is boating. It strengthens 
muscles and lungs, imparts new life, health and vigor and corre- 
sponding mental activity. Yachting is a constant source of pleasure, 
and often of that strange wild delight which springs from the wrath- 
ful waves as fragrance from the wind-tossed sweetbrier. You must 
brave the dangers if you would comprehend the mystery of the 
sea. The pulse is quickened, the muscles toughened, and bravery 
and love of freedom developed in the battle with winds and seas 
when the tempest voices are singing through the rigging, and the 
foaming jaw of the waves snaps at the counter. 

Then when evening falls and Zephyrus whispers low, and the 
weary waves drowsily leap to embrace the trembling reflection of 
the stars, and the yacht plows furrows in the shining wake of the 
full moon, cross-barred with electric rays from the towers of Ala- 
meda, the recreation is reposeful, nerves are quieted and care for- 
gotten out in the solemn night on the sea. 

jAlameda^ my fair sweetheart, we all love you. 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

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021 929 648 4 ^ 




This booKlet io issued under 
iKe auspices of tKe Alameda 
Board of Trade . 
Parties desiring further in- 
formation on matters relating 
to tHe City of Alameda and 
its surroundings will receive 
prompt and careful attention 
',by addressing the under- 



#?^ned 



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Alamed^, Doardf of Trade \ 

F. N. DolonoVtv- .^ - . . President 



H. HavicH 



Vic«-Preai<lent 



O. P. Ma^e^norf,^ *^HL " " Secretary 
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